About 3,000 people held a peaceful procession at Nalasopara to agitate against the arrest of Vaibhav Raut (40) — who was arrested by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) sleuths for allegedly possessing explosives and other raw materials including pistol, firearms and similar equipment. The march, which took place on Friday evening from Raut's residence to the town's bus stand, was arranged by Nalasopara locals and Raut's relatives and neighbours. According to the police, a total number of people in the march was between 2,800 to 3,000. The procession was carried out peacefully and was marked without any violence, said the police. "Some members of the march had earlier visited us and spoke with us regarding the purpose behind conducting the same after which we made our arrangements accordingly. We had an overall supervision on security, law, and order and ensured that things don't go the other way, which would eventually have an adverse impact on our arrangements. Total 200 police personnel were deployed at the site and other major checkpoints. The march was peaceful and basically, their agitation was against the arrest of Raut which they believe is illegal detention," said a police officer. "We have been claiming from the beginning that Raut was arrested on false charges and the ATS is trying to drag him into the case for offense, which he has not made at all. The march was carried out with a sole objective which is to voice against the concerned officials and administration trying to deliberately harass him for no reason. We made sure that law and order is maintained and no chaos is created during the procession. We continue to support Raut and for that, we are ready to fight till the end," said Diptesh Patil, a close friend, and neighbour of Raut. ABOUT THE MARCH Vaibhav Raut’s supporters held the protest march on Friday evening starting from his residence in Nalasopara to the town’s bus stand. The protest saw participation from Nalasopara locals

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